Do we need a law of privacy? Should judges be allowed to stop us reading about a footballer's adultery or enjoying pictures of a film star's wedding? Is a super-model's cocaine addiction something that she should be allowed to keep private? And aren't we entitled to walk down the street without having our most intimate activities recorded on security cameras and broadcast to the world? These questions have divided not only the country but also
our most senior judges. Drawing a line between justified and unjustified intrusion places great stresses on our legal traditions with some judges favouring an approach which stretches existing laws to
grant relief to deserving victims, whilst other judges feel that it would be more honest to simply recognize privacy as a new human right. The latter approach creates further problems: should it be up to Parliament alone to create such a right? And what about free speech? Do the newspapers and the public not have rights too? The issues raised are often highly emotive. Newspapers are not allowed to identify Thompson and Venables, the young men who murdered two-year-old
James Bulger, because their lives would be in danger. Nobody may identify Mary Bell, who also killed when she was a child, even though there was no such risk. Will paedophiles be the next to demand
lifelong anonymity? Steering a course through this minefield requires a grasp of legal concepts and principles and an understanding of how the law develops. This book explores how the English legal system has had to blend old laws on confidentiality with modern human rights law in order to deal with these problematic issues. Written for non-specialists by one of Britain s best known legal journalists, this book provides a uniquely accessible guide to the legal aspects of
this public debate.
Industry Reviews
`Review from previous edition A timely, highly readable account of how we have arrived at a privacy law which trumps the right to free expression.'
Tom Stoppard, Sunday Telegraph
`This survey is valuable as well as entertaining.'
Godfrey Hodgson, Oxford Today,
In his excellent book Privacy and the Press, Joshua Rozenberg writes for the non-specialist and addresses important issues in the debate about privacy...
`his descriptions of complicated cases and the unravelling of complex (and sometimes barely rational) arguments are presented with a degree of panache'
Justice of the Peace
`Rozenberg's guide through the maze of case law is admirably clear, even to the non-specialist.'
Frncis Wheen, THES
`...a very good book, which once you start you cannot put down... the research is meticulous and the book, whilst entertaining and readable, completely accurate. ...I recommend this book to lawyers, journalists, politicians and those seeking to protect their privacy.'
Jennifer McDermott, European Human Rights Law Review
`... learned and entertaining survey of the whole field of media laws ... This survey is valuable, as well as entertaining.'
Oxford Today: The University Magazine
`... this book by Joshua Rozenberg admirably puts the case for what his fellow journalists would regard as a sensible balance between freedom from intrusion and freedom of speech - between privacy and the press.'
Media Lawyer
`... provides a review of the topic that is both satisfying and entertaining.'
Media Lawyer
`Joshua Rozenberg explains the tangled legal complexities with clarity and in a lively style ... The arguments are finely balanced ... The debate will continue and be better informed as a result of this book.'
Ham & High (Hampstead & Highgate Express)
`This book shines a clear and welcome light through the undergrowth of legal concepts and principles, to which has been added the recent human rights law. It is written for anyone who wants to understand just where we are today in an area of the law that is constantly shifting. This debate can only really be understood in a legal context, to which this book provides a clear and valuable guide.'
Anna Ford, New Statesman.
`witty, learned discourse. A chief pleasure of the book is its style.'
David Wurizel, Counsel
`both satisfying and entertaining.'
Editory, Media Lawyer
`This very clear and extremely well-written book will be essential reading for anyone interested in the law as it affects what can be published in the press.'
Alasdair Palmer, Sunday Telegraph
`Rozenberg has written a clear, accessible account for a more general reader.'
Alan Rusbridger, The Guardian Review
